


An Elephant in a Small Room

by skyestar7703



Series: Familiar Au [1]
Category: Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: Family, Family Bonding, Izanagi is also a dork, Nanako is precious, Yu pretends to be stoic and cool but is actually a dork, familiar AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-07 16:22:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18876805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyestar7703/pseuds/skyestar7703
Summary: Izanagi takes a form outside of the TV world to interact with the human he comes from. It's a bit more complicated than it looks from first glance, and Yu faces the challenge of explaining this mess to Dojima.Familiar Au: A series of one-shots where all personas take animal forms outside of the Metaverse and bond with their humans.





	An Elephant in a Small Room

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the first story in the Familiar Au! Credit for this idea goes to slowgo123 on Tumblr, who created this au. This will be the first in a series, so I hope you enjoy!

Naturally, Dojima had to be there that night. And not drunk. While of course Yu would rather his uncle stay sober (seriously, coming home drunk off your ass as a single parent with your six year old daughter being home alone waiting for you? Depending on your partner to carry you home, again with a six year old depending on you? What the hell?) but at least then he might’ve been more open to Yu’s predicament. 

As it was, Dojima was staring at him wide-eyed, a mixture of suspicion and plain old horror on his face, chopsticks clattering into forgotten food. He opened his mouth twice, but the only thing that came out was some sort of strangled gasp. This was all fair of course. Honestly Yu expected all this and more. That didn’t make it any less uncomfortable. He struggled to maintain a straight face, shifting his feet awkwardly and trying to adjust to the massive weight on his shoulder.

Izanagi nudged his cheek. “At the very least,” He murmured, “You’re cousin seems to very much enjoy my presence.” Yu glanced over to Nanako, who in stark contrast to her father, was looking at his companion with unbridled joy.

“Wow, that’s a really pretty bird! And big too! Where did you get him?” She jumped to her feet and was by his side in an instant, looking up at the bird in wonder. Obligingly, Yu knelt down to his knees and Izanagi hopped down his arm, allowing his cousin to stroke said bird’s feathers. He stiffened for a moment, then leaned into Nanako’s touch. 

“Ah, this is nice. I believe you have chosen your Social Link well,” the persona said to him, rubbing his head against Nanako’s hand. Yu frowned, because, him choosing a social link with Nanako? The only “Social Link” he had was with Yosuke, the “magician arcana”, or whatever. Maybe he was going to get one with Nanako in the future? He wondered what arcana she’d be, if any at all. 

“Nanako, get away from it,” Dojima said sharply, glaring at Izanagi, who quickly jumped back up to Yu’s shoulder. Said glare turned upon him instead. “Where did you get that thing? And more importantly, how? If I hear anything about a giant bird missing from the zoo-”

“No it’s nothing like that.” Yu stumbled over his words. Dammit, was there any good excuse for this? _Just say something! Anything!_ “I-I found him. Well, he found me and decided to stay with me. He followed me home.” _Oh yeah, that’s a_ great _excuse. Of course he’ll believe it. Dingus!_

Dojima’s lip curled, and he raised an eyebrow. “You found him. He followed you home.”

“Yes.”

“Yu, that’s a Golden Eagle.”

“I….I know that.”

“Golden eagles don’t live around here.”

“That they don’t.”

“So you just expect me to believe that you randomly found a golden eagle flying around Inaba for some unknown reason, and he decided to follow you home for the hell of it?”

_Basically._ “Well, actually, this happened a while ago. At my parent’s house. He was on my balcony. Injured. I ah, nursed him to health when he was a chick. Apparently he followed me here to Inaba.”

The reality of course was that after Yosuke had just accepted his shadow and gained the persona Jiraiya, and they were out of the TV and headed back home, Izanagi had flown down out of the sky, announcing who he was, and that he “was to stay with the human whose soul he was a part of”, and “not to worry, he did not require food, although it would certainly be nice”, as if that was in any way helpful. The jerk. At least the moment he chose to reveal himself was in a place where the streets were empty, otherwise that would’ve been even more of a disaster. 

Honestly, however much Yosuke may have been in awe by how “cool” Izanagi’s animal form was, Yu really would have preferred something less conspicuous. At least Yosuke could pass Jiraiya off as a stray to his parents, and things would probably go well. But Yu couldn’t be so lucky, oh no. His persona had to be a massive wild animal, of course.

Nanako grabbed his arm, jerking him out of his thoughts. “That’s so nice of you! Wow, you really saved this bird’s life!” She smiled and leaned in towards Izanagi, ignoring Dojima’s intake of breath. “What’s his name?”

“Ah, it’s Izanagi.” Yu caught Dojima’s eye. “You know, after the Japanese god.”

Dojima huffed. “I know who Izanagi is, Yu. But you do realize how absurd this story sounds, right? That you just happened across an injured golden eagle chick who happens to be so absurdly loyal to you, he followed you all the way from Tokyo, a massive city, to way out here in Inaba. It isn’t that I don’t want to believe you; I’d rather my nephew not be stealing animals from a zoo or anything. And your parents haven’t been answering my calls, since they’re out of the country, so I can’t confirm your story with them.”

Thank god for that, really. That would have been a disaster. Yu clenched his teeth, trying to keep the panic he felt from showing on his face.

Nanako crossed her arms. “Dad, That’s mean! Of course Yu’s telling the truth. He wouldn’t steal anything, not ever!” Yu shoved down the guilt that came with her trust, while Dojima winced at her expression.

“I don’t want to believe he would either, sweetie. But I need to look at all the facts here.” He nodded at Yu. "His story just isn't that believable." 

Izanagi seemed to have had enough at this point. He knocked his beak against Yu’s cheek once again. “I can prove to them that I am yours. Ask me to do any sort of task, and I shall accomplish it, as long as it is a task I can do within the limits of my form.” 

That made sense. Yu nodded to him, then turned to Dojima. “I get why you don’t believe me. But I can prove Izanagi’s mine. Here.” he whistled, and Izanagi hopped off his shoulder and onto the table, then straightened looked up at him, standing stock still and at attention. Nanako oohed and aahed, and Dojima seemed to be trying to keep the impressed look off of his face.

_Crap. What do I do now?_ Just a trick, right? No big deal. Um….”Fetch.” He managed to stutter out. _Ooh, goodie. Fetch, right. Imma just tell my giant freaking bird to go fetch something._ Izanagi seemed to be on the same page as Yu, if the utterly exasperated look on his face was anything to go by. Seriously, what did it say about him that his persona could pull off a look like that on a bird’s face? Despite this, Izanagi hopped down from the table and flapped lightly over to where Yu had dropped his bookbag, careful not to knock anything over. Then, gripping the bag in his talon, he dragged it back to Yu, and set it in his lap, jumping onto his shoulder once again.

Yu tried not to wince as Izanagi’s talons dug into him slightly. “I did say anything within my limits,” the persona muttered. “But I will admit, I was hoping you would chose something more dignified to have me do. Fetch? I am not Jiraiya, Yu.”

_I know that, I was panicking!_ It wasn’t like he could say that out loud though, that would just make things worse. So he settled for patting the eagle on the head. 

His family was staring at him, shock on his uncle’s face, excitement on his cousin’s. Dojima finally seemed to find his voice. “Ah. Yes, he does seem to be, um. Well trained. Very well then. But he can’t sleep in the house, understand? And can he hunt for his own food?”

Izanagi had said he didn’t require food. Still, Yu nodded. “Yes. He can hunt for himself. He never leaves a mess, so don’t worry about that.”

“Yay! Izanagi's staying! This is awesome!” Nanako made to wrap her arms around the persona, before Dojima pulled her away.

“Birds don’t like to be hugged, sweetie,” He told her. “You’re very lucky he lets you pet him.”

Nanako wilted “Oh.” Then brightened. “But I can still pet him, right?” Yu smiled and nodded, and she cheered.

Izanagi ruffled his feathers. I shall go then. I think I will nest on the roof of this building. Do not fret, Yu. I shall join you tomorrow.” With that, he hopped down and waddled towards the door. Yu opened it for him, and he flew outside. He looked back at Dojima, who nodded in approval.

This was going to be a _long_ year.


End file.
